Here's where I get opinionated.

"Bandai Entertainment, the subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) that handles anime and manga in North America, will stop offering new DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and manga releases next month. It will continue to distribute in its existing catalog lineup, but it will no longer produce and distribute new releases as of this February.

Bandai Entertainment will focus on licensing rights to other companies, particularly in digital distribution, broadcast, and merchandising. The company will be restructured as a result, and most of its contractors and three of its five fulltime staff members will be laid off."

So, this news hit about a week ago and it stirred up a small shitstorm of anger in the anime community. Now, I haven't been a member of the anime community in some years for reasons that I will get into later. But I felt the need to comment on this, at least so that years from now, if someone stumbles across this little blog, they may understand how at least one person felt.

The views that I'm seeing are from those of the 'commercially hardcore' people that state that the 'pirates' and 'bootleggers' have forced this action by robbing the anime industry of the money that it rightly deserves. I will not deny that anime companies, or any company that puts effort into a project, deserve to be paid for their time. They say that torrent sites have caused the collapse of the North American anime market and we have brought this on ourselves. My opinion later.

The second viewpoint is that Bandai attempted to release sub-standard products here in the US compared to its Japanese counterparts. The DVDs released with special packaging, collectibles, and other such bonuses overseas. Here, they released at about 30 bucks for 4 episodes, and occasionally, you got something nifty if you bought the first DVD in the set. They also attempted to release the DVDs 'cheaper' in the US than they did in Japan, but that changed when they realized that the Japanese would just import the stuff from the US to avoid paying the higher domestic prices.

The final viewpoint, which I'm closest to falling in with, is that lately the anime has just been pure shit. In a quite taken from a Japanese site, "They say the tastes of US fans have changed, but really they are the same. The problem is all the anime made in Japan is now for the creepy otaku demographic and doesn’t interest them.” And that is pretty much true. Lately, the anime that has come out of Japan has been of two varieties. The 'moe' stuff of preteen girls that the Japanese seem to obsess over, or the opposite end of the spectrum, the 'oppai' fan service anime with breasts so large that they have their own gravitational pull.

An example of moe anime (released by Bandai and retardedly popular):



And now for the 'other' type:



Honestly, I can't bring myself to watch either. The latest anime that I watched fell into the latter category, and I kinda had to force myself to watch it. I watched it with my sister and her husband, and all the time we were just rolling our eyes. Especially when things like this happened.



So, yeah. The American anime industry has collapsed. Or is collapsing. ADV, one of my favorite dubbing companies shut down a while back. Now that Bandai is closing its doors to distribution, that only leaves a few others. So, yes, internet piracy has contributed to the decline of the market. Pricing has contributed to the decline of the market. And shitty content has contributed to the decline of the market.

However, that's not to say that those are the only problems. My issue, my REAL issue (aside from the shitty content point above), is WHAT they choose to release stateside. Epic shows like Macross 7 and Macross Frontier will never see a stateside release due to the licensing issues over who owns the anime, and who owns the music. Considering that those two are heavily music based, that makes it far too expensive for the companies involved to risk. Then, they choose to release other shows that were made in Japan for younger audiences and market them over here for children as well. That doesn't always work. Children in Japan aren't as sheltered as our children are.

Take a show like "Konjiki no Gash Bell". It's a story of a young demon sent to the human world to find a human partner to aid in his battle to destroy all the other demons so that he can become the ruler of the demon world for the next thousand years. Well, that obviously wouldn't fly on American broadcasts, so they changed it up. Instead of demons, they're called Mamodo. They come from the Mamodo world and are fighting to become the Mamodo king. Unless your kid goes and Googles what Mamodo means, they'll probably never know about the battle for the demon world.

Now, I can understand wanting to protect your children from foul and evil beasties. Fine. BUT, when the only thing you offer is that watered down version? No. Hell to the fuck no. Compare the two intros.

Japanese:



English:



It hurts me where my feelings live to watch that. I'm almost sure that things like Beyblade and Bakugan were cool in Japan. But they have to complete retardate everything they assume is for children. But, that's been the way of American television for decades. Can't solely blame that, but it hasn't helped the anime situation.

Finally, there are the purists. Those hateful, despicable, vile and loathsome creatures that absolutely REFUSE to accept ANYTHING outside of its native language. They refuse to watch dubs, they refuse to accept English translations. They learn an entire language JUST so they can watch their cartoons in the language they were meant to be in. These people piss me off. They're the kind of people that will sometimes refuse to buy a domestically released product BECAUSE of the dub, or what company released it or whatever. They are the elitist snobs and most annoying of the fandom, in my opinion.

In closing, piracy has not helped the cause, but it is NOT the only factor that has caused the downfall of the American anime industry. And honestly, with the stuff they've put out lately, I don't care to see it anyway. Everything I cared to watch has already been released, so..

"So say we all..."

Late Night Musings

Here we are again. It's that time. Why? I don't fucking know. I just had the urge to do this, so get over it or fuck off. What do I care what you think? This is my blog, or something. Whatever. On to the therapy session.

First off, let me state that apparently my medication is working. I haven't had any anxiety attacks or panic symptoms in a month. So, in that, huzzah! The downside is that I'm tired a lot of the time. The upside is that when I can feel it working, I CAN FEEL IT WORKING. I'm usually a pretty chipper guy when the meds are in effect. When they wear off, you can tell. I get quiet, contemplative, and grumbly.

This leads me to my second topic. I'm not sure if it's the meds or not, but lately, I've been having these dreams, and not the sort that I usually have. I keep dreaming about my dead dogs. I keep dreaming that they're alive and well and I just feel so fucking happy. This has led me to a couple of conclusions. Either I'm crazy, which is highly likely, or I desperately want animal companionship. I miss having a dog. I miss having a pet. I find myself wanting to get a dog pretty badly. Like, so badly that I want to move away from where I live simply because they won't allow me to own a dog. However, I don't want to move. The stupid suggestion of moving to another state is retarded and pointless, but that's a whole different pile of body parts. So, no dog for me. I'm sad.

Granted, I HAD contemplated moving away. I had considered moving off to Tex-Ass, but then I really thought it out. What for? Honestly? Yes, my sister and her husband are there, and those two are like my best friends. But at the same time, I can't just expect that I can thunder on down there and expect things to be like they were here. Sure, my son's mother is there, but that's just a dead horse at this point. I understand that it would be good for him and his mom to be nearer to each other, but I'm not sure if that's good for me. With the way I've been feeling lately, the distance is good.

That being said, medicated or not, I think I'll choose to remain distant. Honestly, I'm tired of trying to close the gap and having the ledge pull away each time I leap.

"So say we all..."

It's dangerous to go alone...

Dreams! Y U Make No Sense?!

Though, I can see a pattern in the dreams I've had over the past few weeks. Helplessness. Running up against a telekinetic kid who lifted me up and tossed me about. Being held down and having water poured over me until I couldn't breathe. Standing on a beach and suffering an onslaught of massive waves. And then there are the constant "Where the fuck is my car!?" dreams. Those I don't understand.

Christmas is a month away. Plans have been made, but plans are made to fall apart, like promises are made to be broken. I know what I want to do, but we'll see if the reality of the situation allows for it. Money is a bitch, though I did recently find out that I'm in possession of a dagger worth anywhere between 500-1000 dollars.

Stress hasn't lightened up one bit. Between work, health, finances and such, I'm still as stressed as ever. I have a doctor's appointment in two days, and hopefully they'll be able to give me a better diagnosis than Acid Reflux. Bastard doctors. They're like chiropractors. The solution to everything is 'crack your bones!' or something.

As for the final picture of the post, well... It was difficult, since I wiped my HD of any of those sorts of pictures the other night. I grabbed the first thing that came to mind. My one little bit of happiness. Photography...

"So say we all..."

Stress

I don't deal well with stress, whether it be physical, emotional, mental... anything. In the past few years, stress has started to make me sick. When I get stressed, I get light-headed, my stomach hurts, I get shaky, I can't breathe properly, my hands get all tingly. It's not fun, and it makes living daily a hard thing. Especially when I'm slammed with stress each day.

Luckily, I guess, I get insurance this weekend. I managed to find a plan to cover myself and my son, though it's gonna take a chunk out of my already dwindling check every month. Hopefully, I can get to a doctor to see if something can be done. Maybe there's something wrong that can be fixed. Maybe get some medication or something. I don't know. I've reached a new level of desperation.

What makes all this worse is that very few seem to understand exactly what it's like to deal with this. No one at work cares, because all they care about is results, which is funny. When I get stressed, the thing I care about least is results. All I want is to be stress free. Then it doesn't help when they constantly get on my ass about stuff that I have no control over. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway. Yeah. I get stressed, and I become a different person. My thoughts tend to go darker. I think things that normally wouldn't occur to me. I become paranoid. I become the asshole that I always joke that I am. I say things that I'd normally hold back. I know it's gonna get me in trouble soon. Of course, if I'm stressed, I don't care.

We'll see how this turns out.

"So say we all..."

Dreams are weird things.

Figured I'd just take this time to fling down the remains of a dream I had about 8 hours ago. It's random as all hell, and may not make a lot of since to people that don't have kids or watch a lot of kid's shows.

The starting details are a bit fuzzy, but it begins with myself and my son at a shopping mall of some sort. They have an exhibit of art displayed in the halls. It's not fine art, just random art. So as we're looking over the items assembled, one of the individuals that seemed to be in charge mentions that there is a particular piece in a different hall that has a function of some sort that will help to feed the homeless by recycling bottles that you feed into it. Don't ask me where all this came from.

So, my son and I head towards that area, but on the way, we run across a crowd. In the middle of that crowd is the kids from that Nickelodeon show, iCarly, and they're singing "Don't Dream it's Over". Since my son likes to watch that show, we watched the performance, eventually getting to speak to the cast. For some unknown reason, the person that had organized all of this was Courtney Love, all clean and sober and not crazy at all. Afterwards, we all went back to some house and had a pizza party, but the bitch of the thing is, I had to make the pizzas. Even in my dreams, I'm stuck working.

In any event, now that I'm awake, I'm on my way to the District Attorney's office to see if I can avoid going to court tomorrow morning.

"So say we all."

In nomine Patris..

"We are the kingdom of light and dreams,"

"gnosis and life, Avantasia!"

Been in some of the strangest moods lately. Mainly irritable. Sometimes disappointed. Sometimes happy. Sometimes empty. Right now, empty.

I just finished 13 audiobooks from The Wheel of Time, catching up with the series in preparation for the release of the final book sometime next year. Honestly, I've listened to it in the car, during slow times before and after work, while doing dishes, doing yard work, even while gaming at times. Now that I'm all caught up and done, I feel an emptiness. I can only imagine how I'm gonna feel when the final book is released and it's all over and done with. As Brandon Sanderson said, I've been reading about these characters and their adventures for at least 10 years now, and I've become attached to them. They're almost like friends that you never see anymore but have had many good times with. So, yeah... Dorky and sad, but still.. All the above being said, that's been a huge part of mine time lately. I've been WoT obsessed. I've been researching background information. I've been looking up interviews. I've been going nuts trying to figure out where it's gonna go from here.

I've also been searching for a new band to listen to since Roy Khan left Kamelot. I'm sure Kamelot will carry on, but I didn't like their first vocalist, so I hold little hope for their new one. I have found a band that entertains me. Avantasia, a side project of Tobias Sammet of the band Edguy. They're a sort of metal opera type thing. Yeah...

Oh. I hate you.

"So say we all."

Another one of those nights.

I've been busy for the past week. I've been working almost non-stop, with only enough time to sleep between work shifts. Sometimes, even that wasn't guaranteed. In any event, today is my first day off in a week and a half. Not bad, but maaaaaaan I had some strange dreams last night.

First off, let me start by stating that it feels weird to have a dream that features a song that you haven't listened to in a good while. While I can see "7 Weeks" popping into my head, the fact that I hadn't heard in an at least a few months surprised me. What's even more surprising, and kinda worrisome, is that I had a dream that featured a song that I've NEVER heard. Apparently, it doesn't even exist. I've searched a few of the lyrics I recall on the interwebz and come up with nothing. Not the most classy of lyrics, but considering the settings for the dreams I had last night, they fit. They were:

"You could be crazy, I could be more,"
"You want me in the bedroom, I'll take you on the floor."

I had various dreams. One featured me and my son at some sort of carnival, playing a game together to win crazy prizes. Apparently, we were doing well, until someone escorted us away for doing too well.

Another featured a bridge that I've seen in MANY dreams before. The bridge goes over a body of water, not big, but at least 1/4 mile. And there's usually someone driving recklessly on the bridge, causing issues. This bridge is almost always in a dream in which I'm returning from a long trip.

That leads into the next dream. I was working at some sort of restaurant. I couldn't even say what kinda food they served. It was strange. Someone had come to visit me there and it threw the work environment into chaos as people got distracted and angry. That part was the longest dream, but it ended abruptly.

All in all, this ties into the last post that I made. My mind has been trying to deal with stuff so much that every night, some facet of my daily stress works its way into my dreams. I try to deal with it rationally, but who am I kidding? I'm not rational at all.

As for the Picture of the Post, I blame the AMVHell people for this video...



So, with that and the recent 'Brony' love for that My Little Pony show..

"So say we all..."